The Bill to amend the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) Agency Act, 2023 (SB163), which seeks to provide for effective management and implementation of social investment programmes, has been read for the Second Time in the Senate.

Leading the debate on the Bill at the plenary session of Tuesday, 10 October 2023, the Majority Leader of the Senate, Sen. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC:Ekiti) stated that the Bill seeks to amend sections 9(3); 14(1); 21(1), 26(1) and 33 of the Act to situate the National Social Investment Programme Agency under the Office of the President from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

In his submission, Sen. Bamidele explained that these amendments will ensure that the cluster programmes which include the N-power Programme, the Government Enterprise, and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), and the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (CCT) are directly supervised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Sen. Bamidele further mentioned that the rationale for the proposed amendment is to allow for the establishment of an effective and accountable structure for service delivery, and adequate coordination among relevant agencies of government. According to him, the Bill if passed will guarantee the sustainability of the NSIP as valuable tool for poverty alleviation in Nigeria.

Giving a narrative context on the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) Agency Act, 2023, Sen. Bamidele informed lawmakers that the Agency was established in 2023, as the supervisory body for the social investment programmes under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Bill, which was unanimously adopted, has been referred to the Committee of the Whole for further legislative action.